Mumbai: Bike racing and motosports are no longer limited to adults, and have now taken over as a frenzy amongst kids too.
After the successful launch of the first-ever TVS Racing Experience Centre at KidZania Mumbai last month, 5 May, both the leading brands, KidZania India, a leader in children's edutainment park in partnership with TVS, one of India's leading two-wheeler manufacturers, has announced the launch of TVS Racing Experience Centre at KidZania Delhi NCR.
The partnership will see TVS along with KidZania, curate an experience centre at KidZania’s parks in India to provide young visitors with a safe and controlled environment to experience the excitement of racing. The racing experience centre features real-life tracks, high-tech simulators, and authentic racing gears to provide children with an immersive and thrilling experience. Set to become a popular experience at KidZania, the aim is to inspire a passion for racing and provide children with an opportunity to learn about the sport in a fun and engaging way.
To create innovative, engaging, and unforgettable experiences, KidZania has devised three engaging role-plays tailored to inspire and instil the values that make a champion racer. The experience centre will include activities for different age groups to maintain interest and harness learning. Activities such as bike assembly will encourage team participation, while the design studio and assembly point will provide in-depth knowledge about racing motorbikes. The racing simulators will give young visitors a sense of achievement through their first racing licence and a podium photo-op. Visitors can also access the racetrack on a TVS Apache minibike, providing an opportunity to race against other visitors.
The experience centre provides an immersive and interactive platform for visitors to engage in this activity zone. To ensure the safety and quality of the experience, the racing experience centre follows specific guidelines. For instance, eight children are welcomed at one go for a 15-minute activity, where they will be given a briefing session conducted by the Zupervisor on TVS racing history and the different activities available. Children can choose from four different role-plays, namely RR 310 assembly, RR 310 Design, TVS Racer using TVS Racing Simulator, and TVS Racing @ Racetrack. They will get to participate in these activities within the stipulated time allocated by the brand and are required to finish in time. All participants will receive a memento/souvenir - a photograph with a frame - making their thrilling experience a cherished memory. With such an amazing array of activities and the collaborative efforts of KidZania India and TVS, the experience centre will provide an unforgettable and enriching experience for all young racing enthusiasts.
In an exclusive chat with Indiantelevision.com, KidZania India chief marketing officer Rahul Dhamdhere and TVS Motor Company head business - premium Vimal Sumbly talk about how kids as a consumer segment has evolved, the association between KIdZania and TVS and more.
On the evolution of kids segment as a consumer
Dhamdhere: It has evolved unbelievably. There has been a huge shift of mindset, for the good and also for the bad. Like I said, the touch and feel of what children experienced or what we experienced when we were growing up, is not there anymore. They are mostly technology-based – it does teach them a lot – it teaches them about coding, computers, a laptop, how to play with an iPad, download an app. But that also affects their mobility skills and eyesight. They become more and more isolated from the world. There areare pros and cons – we try to use the pros, the cons are handled by KidZania because it gives them an opportunity to go out.
There has been a lot of access to information and data which is a great thing. I wish I had that. I am a voracious reader, but I didn’t have Kindle at that time. I used to have books – Famous Five, Hardy Boys, Secret Seven, Asterix, Tintin. Now they are there – but in the tech world, the tech part, which is great. Accessibility is there, kids can access more. We try to wean off the negative part.
On as a brand which makes bikes for adults, how has it been to cater to a totally different audience such as kids
Sumbly: To be honest, it’s a very interesting segment. The objective was to catch them young. We have been doing a lot of work in the last 40 years for racing in India, and for democratizing racing in India. We are the first brand to build a culture of racing in India.
We have something called the Rookie Cup, where we get the age group of 13-17 years, and we have almost attracted the age bracket of 13 years and above. We saw that there was a great opportunity at the bottom of the pyramid, that’s where KidZania came into play. Can we bring an experience centre here? Can we bring in the young budding alpha generation into motosports? That was the brand integration here.
TVS Apache is a brand which came from race track to roads. To build that complete integration of the brand and bring this new experience to these youngsters, that’s why we are in KidZania,and that’s why we created this experience zone.
On KidZania's edutainment section coming up and catering to the needs of today's children
Dhamdhere: KidZania isn’t just about gaming, it’s about edutainment – education and entertainment, put together. What we do here is unparalleled. For example, we have banks here. We have an IDFC First Bank here – the kids can understand how to encash a cheque, they are given an ATM card – they withdraw money from the ATM and deposit money back into the ATM, the same debit card can be used everywhere else. KidZania also has its own currency called KidZos. So if they deposit KidZos into the bank, they earn a rate of interest – that’s where they are teaching them about financial interest.
Other than TVS, we have other brands too. We have Parle-G, Kinder Joy, Ferrero. So a kid can actually go and make Kinder Joy – he is taught about what goes into making Kinder Joy, so he understands the value of the proteins, the calories – it teaches the kid about what the product is. Most of the time, the kid goes to the market with the mother, they will choose this product because they know how it is made. That’s the beauty of KidZania – we teach them real-life experiences.
When they earn money, they get a cheque. But what happens when they finish the money? They have to earn it again. So all these establishments have different levels of where kids can earn money and spend money. When you spend the money, your bank balance reduces, so you have to get more money – you got to earn the money. That’s how it works.
On your plans to build on your plans to cater to kids
Sumbly: Our first objective was to make two centres in India – one in Mumbai, one in Delhi. Through these two centres, KidZania has roughly 7,50,000 visitors per year, and this is the audience that we are going to cater to. These number of kids will go to the simulator, they will get the first riding license of their life from here, and this is the first place where they will truly experience the brand Apache. Over a period of time, it will stay in their minds and help us to build the brand to the next level.
There is already a lot of fan-loving amongst adults for the brand Apache; now these youngsters will join us and the journey will become complete.
On racing for kids - is it something which the parents are open to as a game/sport?
Dhamdhere: They are open to it. You can see the way motor-racing or go-karting has grown – this is something that you cannot prevent. Over time, it’s a realization, that this is what kids want to do. I always wanted to do it, but I didn’t have the opportunity to ride a small bike. But here I’m giving them the opportunity to do it.
The kind of habits, job opportunities have grown – when I was growing up, there was only a BCom and an MBA. Now kids are becoming racers, they are joining the IPLs of the world, and smaller kids are doing other sports. And this is one of the biggest sports that has come up. But the beauty of it is that we are giving them the opportunity to understand about racing, and the safety angle.
Kids are at impressionable age right now, we might as well talk to them now.
On your focus on branding, community - what are your future plans for TVS Racing?
Sumbly: TVS Racing is our strong pillar, we have a huge pedigree around it, so we are building it form strength to strength. Be it being a part of Dakar Rally, One Way Championship, One Way Asian Championship – so we are building this.
Now we want to catch them young, and build a championship for the youngsters, between KidZania Mumbai and Delhi – which will be run for two months, about how they assemble the bike to the simulator. We will select the top 10 kids from both locations, and they will compete – the top three will be taken to the One Way Championship to watch it, and also take them to the factory where these motorcycles are made.
On the kind of innovations that would be disrupting the edutainment category for kids
Dhamdhere: We are experts at it. We know exactly what kids want. And the whole way in which KidZania is designed – it talks to children. There are simple principles kept in mind – the duration of the kid’s interest is not more than 20-25 minutes. If you go anywhere here in KidZania, the duration of each experience is 20-25 minutes, because then the attention shifts. We have to fit the innovation within it, that’s the beauty of it.
We have brands here. We have an education brand that came up with the idea saying, I don’t want to do a kid’s A for Apple, I want a creative marine biologist. The kind of experience we are doing or we are bringing, or the opportunities of role-play are moving in with the times. Here, kids are designing their own bikes, they are putting their bikes together – that’s the innovative bit, as compared to TVS simply putting a display. Along with innovation, this is co-creation – co-creation between KidZania and TVS. Companies know their brands, positioning, and ethos; we know how kids must be spoken to.
We would also be tying up with a car brand. Earlier we used to make a kid understand how to sell a car – the kid became a dealership or car engineer, was told about the car and was required to sell the car to the parent. But now, we’ll be taking the leap from there.
On the shift in strategy - what has instigated this shift in strategy, and what is the new strategy all about?
Sumbly: In TVS, we are focusing on premiumization in a way that the products which are very differentiated in design, very differentiated in terms of technology. And we wanted to bring this motorcycle to motorcycling. Anybody can sell a motorcycle, but motorcycling is about the motorcycle, the gear, your community – it’s the entire ecosystem, the 360 degree experience to a consumer who gets into buying a product. So he not only buys the product, he buys the whole experience.
On your views about racing as a sport in India, and how do you see it building up in the country- for men, women and kids too?
Sumbly: For us, racing is gender-neutral. Somehow, motosports in the minds of people is unsafe. But what we are building, is motosport as a safe profession, provided you follow a particular curriculum. Like how you go to primary school, secondary school, college, university – it’s the same thing. First, it’s KidZania, then they go to Rookie, then Racing Academy, and then they can become professionals. So, we feel that through this, motosports will become more chosen as a profession going forward, plus racing will be more democratized. Also, our CSR – safe and responsible riding will become more prominent.
